Chian Cluser

The Shattered World

PLANET TYPE: Cluster body

PLANET SIZE: A to C (1 - 200 miles)

DAY LENGTH: Variable

YEAR LENGTH: 18 months

POPULATION ANALYSIS: 100,000+ Undead; 15,000+ oriental humans; 2000+ bakemono (goblins); 1000+ other oriental creatures

Prior to the Final War, Chian was a `D' sized earthbody with two moons; the planet was settled by oriental humans fleeing the rise of the Khabullian empire on Gologotha. For a long while, Qin, the nation founded by these people, was a rival of Khabull, now squabbling over the mines of Ious, now battling each other through puppet states in unimportant parts of Golgotha, now forging unsteady treaties with each other.

In the last centuries of its existence, the Khabullian leaders became convinced that Qin was behind much of the dissent in their empire; Emperor Saladin was so obsessed with their `interference' prior to the Final War he commision the construction of Girru, the Engine of the Gods, to counter Qin's percieved aggression.

When the Final War erupted, Qin was Khabulls principle spaceborne opponent; early on Qins spelljamming fleet soundly defeated Khabulls. Emperor Kartos's response was horrible; he ordered work on the death engine Girru rushed to completion, and in the tenth year of that conflict sent that machine to Chian with orders to obliterate the planet. Qin's rulers knew what was coming, and launched a desperate counter attack, crippling Girru, but it was too little, too late; Girru's prime laser-like energy weapon oblitered Chian, reducing it to a collection of asteriods orbiting a ball of magma, the remnants of the planets core. Virtually all life on Chian's surface perished in that inferno. But there were some survivors...though most were not really alive.

These days, Chian consists of a hundred odd size `A' to size `C' earth bodies sharing a common air envelope in loose association with the core of the old planet; it is the light and heat emitted by that ball of magma that keeps those fragments from turning into frozen chunks of rock.

Most of these rocks are dead places, inhabited only by the spirits of the past. On a few, though, life - and even civilization - persists.

CHUAN:

Once upon a time, this size `C' body was merely Chians moon; these days it is the largest of the objects that comprise the Chian Cluster. Chuan always keeps the same face oriented towards the glowing ball of magma that was Chian; that side of possesses a moderate climate. Chuans other side, though, is a harsh wasteland.

The portion of Chuan that faces Chians core is a veritable garden spot, boasting two small forests, a small sea (and several good sized lakes), plus mile upon mile of acceptable, though not overly great pastureland. Chuan has only two ranges of mountains, one of which is actually a tall ridge encircling a huge crater.

Chuans forests are home to such conventional creatures as boars, giant centipedes (imported by accident), leapords, oliphants (originally brought in for heavy lifting and since `gone wild'), and stags; plus more exotic creatures such as goblin rats, goblin spiders and faerie like shan sao. Chuans small sea and lakes are filled with fish, eels, and crustaceans, as well as hosting small numbers of hai nu and kappa; and its plains are roamed by a few cattle, buffalo, and wild horses.

But there is a sinister side to Chuan as well; there are many ruins haunted by ghosts, ghouls, and fearsome oriental spirits; Chuans living inhabitants are trained almost from birth in how to avoid, appease, or deal with these creatures. Indeed, the relationship between Chuans living, unliving, and spirit inhabitants is so intertwined that it is almost symbiotic; more than once the moons various spirits and undead have come to the aid of Chuans humans. The bulk of the various spirit creatures and undead roam the barren plains and dead cities of Chuans `dark side', a region avoided by all the living save a few shukenja and outcasts.

Prior to the Final War, Chuan's surface was dotted with fortresses and palaces of high ranking officials from Qin. While the moon was attacked in the Final War, it was not destroyed or even captured; after the fighting ended its inhabitants were able to reorganize and rebuild. For most of the first century after the Final War, Chuan was ruled by a harsh alliance of samurai warlords, descendants of the officers originally posted here. These warlords were vehemently xenophopic, disdaining contact of any sort with the other worlds of this sphere, and were notoriousely brutal to the people they governed as well. This situation changed when the undead Khabullian emperor sent an fleet of spelljammers crewed by unliving minions to lay claim to the fragments of the Shattered World; for when the warlords armies failed to halt these invaders it was the Shukenja priests who forged pacts with Chians own undead to counter this unliving foe. One result of this invasion was the sudden rise of the Thousand Ancestor's cult among Chuans people, and the near dominance attained by the Shukenja priests as a result.

Within fifty years of the failed Khabullian invasion, Chuan was very nearly a theocratic state. The Shukenja denigrated the authority of the Samurai, promoting the Sohei (temple warriors) to near Samurai status. They also persecuted the Wu-jen, turning them into near outcasts, and all but obliterated the Kensai (weapon masters), to this day Kensai are very few and far between. The Shukenja were expansionistic, expanding their authority to include the more habitable of the shattered fragments of Chian, annexing Taos, Bird Rock, and Wu-Qin (the fragment containing the old capitol of Qin) among others. The shukenja's dominance lasted for centuries, until two hundred years ago when another Khabullian invasion (the fourth), which actually managed to gain a foothold on Wu-Qin, and outright control of two or three other fragments. The warlords, long resistive of clerical rule, rebelled, beginning a ten year civil war that turned Chuan into an unstable alliance.

The Invaders turned up about eighty years ago. Initially, they tried to simply annex the Chian cluster outright, only to fall prey in droves to the spirits and undead haunting these rocks. These days, they mostly avoid the cluster, though they do maintain a low key observation post on the otherwise unremarkable Jeppa Rock.

These days, Chuans humans are found in a string of seven small towns along the shores of the Lung Sea and the rivers feeding into it. Its rulers - a intrigue ridden collection of Samurai warriors and Shukenja priests bound together by kinship and tradition - claim to rule the entirity of Chuan, but in practice there are huge areas that go unvisited for years or even decades.

Chuan is a human realm; bakemono (goblins) are sometimes found as bandits or slaves, and some Samurai and temples keep tabaxi cat-folk on hand as `pets' or guards, but these are exceptions; usually nonhumans of any sort are treated with polite (or not so polite) contempt.

Chuan is a stratified society; with factions of shukenja priests and samurai vying for power at the top; a respected, if generally poor peasant class of farmers coming in below them, and a richer but cruelly treated and heavily taxed merchant/artisan caste occupying the next to bottom rung (slaves, laborers, butchers, morticians, and the like occupy Chuans bottom rung). Ownership of land (restricted to the temples, Samurai, and peasant farmers) is a key indicator of social status; most professions are hereditary (including Samurai, Shukenja, and the like). Generally, only Bushi (common mercenaries employed by the merchant/artisan caste), Monks, and Wu-jen wizards are not hereditary (the Yakuza and Ninja criminals almost all come from a very few number of families).

Lung Sea (Dragon Sea):

This sea is almost perfectly round, indicating that it was originally formed by a meteor impact. Several oriental dragons are thought to dwell in its depths (and are regularly appeased by the fisherfolk and mariners who ply these waters).

Bisan Forest:

Prior to the Final War, this was a sort of giant garden and nature preserve maintained by a group of powerfull nobles; many of the strange creatures they imported have survived. This is one of the few places on this world where `free' nonhuman sapients can be encountered.

Shang-ti:

Dominated by its temple and governed by shukenja clergy, this riverside town of 1500 is the religious center of Chuan.

Chin-Nii:

Named after the ancient goddess of spinners and weavers, this is a Samuari ruled town, noted for its textiles. The shukenja here, disliked by others of their ilk, are puppets of the Samurai.

Lei-Kung:

This is an ancient fortress carved into a rocky hill, a days walk from the terminator between Chuans habitable hemisphere and the spirit walked waste of the moons far side. At one time, Lei-Kung was the capitol of Chuan. These days it is a place of misery, dominated by cruel and arrogant Samurai; many of its inhabitants forced to toil in the mines beneath the city.

Pan-Lung:

Built on three small interlinked islands in the Lung Sea, this town of 3200 almost counts as a `open city' as its inhabitants are notably less xenophobic than others (this is because they are more concerned with commerce). While it is a commercial center, it is also regarded as a den of thieves. The Invaders maintain a small `trade embassy' here, a focal point for much intrigue.

Yen-Wang:

This is a gloomy town near the edge of the barren, inhospitable plain that covers most of Chuans far side. It is here that the Shukenja of old forged their pacts with the undead and spirits of Chuan and Chian; no few undead and spirit creatures are found in the area.

Oni:

This town is widely regarded as cursed; over the past century or so it has suffered plagues, famine, floods, and internal strife. This `curse' is considered so dire that neighboring warlords will not invade the place, lest they too become afflicted. Its few hundred remaining inhabitants are split into hostile factions ruled by arrogant shukenja and samurai.

Hsing-ti:

Situated at the edge of the Bisan forest, the inhabitants of this town are regarded as a bit odd by the others; many are thought to be not entirely human. Reports of shapechangers, bakemono, spirit folk, and the like are rampant throughout this area; the local temple is protected by tabaxi warriors.

TAOS:

This large (150 mile diameter) fragment held a site of exceptional holiness prior to Chian's destruction; that (and perhaps the fact it was well distant from that part of Chian struck by Girru's energies) might account for why some of the living creatures here actually survived. Much of its surface is covered with brush and forest; found here are all the usual forest creatures plus bakemono (goblins), ape-like hsing-sing, deadly shapeshifting hu husien, tiny shan sao, and cat-like tabaxi. Humans, for the most part, are found only as hermits, or at the wreckage of the great temple, which houses an order of monks and a fair number of shukenja priests (most of whom were on the loosing side of political struggles back on Chuan). A gate links this temple with Chuan.

About a century after the Final War, Chuans new Shukenja rulers, motivated by ambition and piety, arrived, laying claim to the grand temple here. They were outraged to find the temple tended to by fierce tabaxi - previousely only minor temple servitors prior to Chians destruction - and resolved to exterminate the cat-men for their impertinence. However, the bulk of the tabaxi - five extended families all told - vanished before they could be rounded up. The Shukenja established the fortress town of Ipin on Taos, but this was not a particularly successfull endeavor; it was plagued by internal intrigue, lack of support from Chuan, and poor relationships with Taos's nonhumans. Two hundred years after it was founded, Ipin was attacked by a combined force of bakemono, hu husien, shan sao, and kenku. Ipin held out, but sustained so much damage that it was abandoned for good a decade later. In the centuries since then, human influence on Taos has gradually waned; now only the old temple site itself has more than a handfull of humans resident.

BIRD ROCK:

This size `A' fragment is all but enveloped in greenery. It is a major roosting spot for all manner of avians from doves to eagles to cranes to crows (who fly at will between the various fragments of Chian). It is also a stronghold of the Kenku, whose larcenous dealings have made them unwelcome on most of the other fragments. Supposedly, there is a shrine to a powerfull bird spirit on this fragment; it was the action of this spirit that preserved life here during the Final War. (At least thats what the Kenku claim).

WU-QIN:

This twenty mile chunk of rock is the site of the old imperial capitol, a deadly place of ghosts, ghouls, and spirits, both local and `imported' from Khabull. While the city may seem like just another abandoned ruin, it seethes with hidden activity.

JIPPA ROCK:

Until about twenty years ago, this size `A' hunk of rock was largely ignored - which is probably why the Invaders chose it as the site of their observation post in the cluster. The Invaders stationed here live a life of misery; they are subject to petty harrasment by the kenku and are the targets of magical curses by the Shukenja and Wu-jen of Chuan. They have attempted to investigate (plunder) a few of the ruins in the cluster, but each of these expeditions has sustained heavy losses with little to show.